By the Numbers
by Pocky Fiend
Summary: Jaka Tarvan was a hard man, trained on the miserable, high-gravity world of Sirpar. There, the Empire forged him, and his team, into some of the most fearsome soldiers in the galaxy. He knew his team would always be there for him, but a botched mission and his capture by Rebels on Abbaji throws his loyalty into question. Can this elite find a place in a galaxy turned on its head?


**Abbaji, 4ABY**

The hair on the back of Jaka's neck prickled uncomfortably. He flicked a switch within his helmet with his tongue, and his squad comm crackled to life. "Hold it, I heard-"

Suddenly, the jungle was ablaze with blaster fire. Burning vegetation filled the air with a smoke both acrid and sweet.

Jaka dove for cover behind the huge trunk of a fallen tree. The zing of blaster bolts flying close overhead drowned out his team's voices.

Jaka's heart pounded in his chest, almost threatening to burst through his ribs. He huddled down, willed the jungle itself to swallow him, keep him hidden from the enemy.

"Hard contact! Hard contact!" His team leader's voice was high-pitched, clipped. Jaka knew if he could see the captain's face, it would be pale, his grey eyes hard and wide with fear, but determined.

The fog lifted from his mind as his training reasserted itself in his mind. He forced himself to breathe as evenly as he could, looked around him.

_If I were the enemy, what would I do?_ Jaka looked to his left - the game trail he had shadowed offered the enemy a quick, easy route to his position. _I can't stay here. They'll flank me._

To his right, some thirty meters away, was the closest of the other three members of his team. He couldn't see them, but he knew they were there. To his back was the enemy - he could hear the whine of their repeating rifles, fired in bursts - he guessed to conserve power. Without a generator, repeaters soon ran out of juice. Even so, he couldn't reach his squad, he'd be cut down by the repeaters if he tried.

Jaka looked back the way he had come, a narrow bluff looked down through the tree tops on his position. _Maybe I can set a trap for the enemy?_

Jaka leaned sideways until he lay on the ground, and rolled onto his belly. He pulled an improvised mine made from plasticized detonite and ration pack pull tabs from the pouch at the small of his back, inserted the detonator into it, and turned the dial to 'remote'. Carefully, he settled it under a small, broad-leaved plant beside the trunk of the fallen tree. Jaka taped the remote to the back of his right forearm, and crawled back toward the bluff, keeping low, using the fallen tree for cover for as long as he could.

"Captain, I've set a trap for the Rebels at my cover location. I'm returning to the bluff to observe."

"Understood, Tarvan. We'll retreat back to the bluff as soon as we have an opening."

Once he'd put a few stands of undergrowth between him and the enemy, Jaka rose to his feet, and broke into a sprint. It was three hundred meters to the start of the only climbing route on this side of the small bluff. He had to be quick, if the enemy caught up with him while he climbed, he'd be an easy target. Behind him, blaster fire continued to ring out, round after round.

It was a steep climb, he felt his heart rate skyrocket again. With every step, the toes of his boots barely found purchase in the leaf-litter. Several times, he had to dig his hands in to slow his downward slide. Before long, he came to the rock face itself, towering above him. For several, precious seconds, he struggled to find the beginning of the route he had climbed only days ago. At last, he found it, and began the treacherous climb up the rock face.

The blaster fire had petered out behind him. He looked back through the trees, and caught a glimpse of something brown moving swiftly along the game trail. He didn't need another look to realize the thing was humanoid. He pressed the detonator button taped to his arm. An explosion rocked the jungle below.

Jaka didn't have time to sit and admire his handiwork. He sped up his climb.

Moments later, he felt, rather than saw, the enemy watching him. They opened fire, and Jaka had nowhere to go but up.

Jaka heaved himself onto a ledge just below the top of the bluff. Vertigo and shaking limbs threatened to send him plummeting to the jungle floor below. Just a few more meters stood between him and safety.

Blaster bolts peppered the rocks all around him. Superheated shards of rock plinked off his armor plates.

Their aim was lousy, but it was getting better. The shots crept closer and closer.

The ledge was too narrow to provide substantial cover. He sucked in deep, gulping breaths, then resumed his climb.

He was so close to escaping the deadly hail of blaster fire, so close!

Pain seared through his left leg. He grunted, gritted his teeth, tried to shunt aside the pain. Then another bolt burned into his shoulder between the armor plates. His grip slackened immediately. He struggled with all his might to hold on, but he could feel the fingers of his left hand slipping. Desperately, he tried to push-off from his left foot hold to make the last grab for the top of the bluff.

His leg protested, then turned to jelly, and then he was free-falling through the air.


End file.
